Can you believe that it is already November 12th? I am amazed at how quickly this month is going by! That means there are a lot of reasons to really focus on your budget and saving for the holidays.
In the past, I use to shop according to how much money I had. I just took the cash and spent until I had no more to spend. I didn't overspend this way, but I also spent every dime I had. For the past few years I have operated on a budget for Christmas. This typically involved simply writing names down on a paper and how much money I was going to spend on each person. Thanks to All You, I have a new site to go to that will keep me organized for Christmas AND help me keep to a budget. Check out Organizedchristmas.com! They have this section full of printables and downloadable forms to keep you on track for the holidays. One of the things I jumped on was the Holiday Budget Planner. The Holiday Budget Planner goes great with the Master Gift List. In fact, they have a whole Christmas Countdown Planner that you can look at and pick and choose the printable pages that suit your needs. We are talking right down to the cleaning chores!
We also talked about buying discounted gift cards for gift card presents. I had mentioned selling your unused gift cards at plasticjungle.com before to get money for cards you do not use, but I didn't mention using this fabulous site as a place to purchase some awesome gift cards at a discount. These are all verified gift cards. The value of the card is listed, the price for the card is listed and even the discount you will be getting by purchasing the card is listed. I have seen the percent discount to be about 10 to 20%! There are gift cards for dining, clothing, activities, and more. If you like to buy gift cards, this could be right up your alley!
Another way to save money is saving on shipping. If you are ordering gifts online, you definitely should check out freeshipping.org. This site will supply you with coupon codes for free shipping from many online retailers. Search around and see what you can get.
Now this is an amazing deal that I found out about thanks to one of my favorite websites freebies4mom! Heather has swung an ideal deal for 50 free 4×8 or 5×7 photo cards with FREE shipping from SeeHere by Fujifilm! Use the code freebies4mom-1109 before Nov. 30. Your total should be free. Heather can give you all the skinny by following this link: Freebies4mom
NOTE: I realized today that somehow my link for Freebies4Mom was incorrect. It is corrected now. TOTALLY check it out! :)
Other freebies today.
STICK IT -- Protection One Security has a deal for Pet Decals. These are those little stickers you put on your windows to alert others that you have pets in the home in case of emergencies. I use to have these in my old apartment, and I definitely want to be sure to prepare are home here in Arizona. Linkage: Protection One Security
MUSIC -- iTickets has two free downloads this week. Get your Christmas music collection started with "Adore Him" by Kari Jobe from the Christmas CD Worship And Adore. You can also hook yourself up with Josh Wilson's "How To Fall" from CD "Life Is Not A Snapshot." Don't forget that you do need to register. Linkage: iTickets music
BEVERAGE IT UP -- I am a huge fan of Dunkin' Donuts. If I ever stumble into a big pile of money...I am so getting my hands on a franchise. For now, I have to be content with making there coffee at home. If you have not tried their coffee yet, you simply MUST go to the link ahead, because you can get a free sample sent directly to your door. It is soooo worth it!
Linkage: Dunkin' Donuts Coffee
JAR RECIPES-
Today I have two tea jar recipes for you.
Spiced Tea Mix in a Jar - This is directly from Allfreecrafts.com
Ingredients:
--1½ cups of orange breakfast drink (like Tang)
--¾ cup iced tea mix
--1½ cups white sugar
--2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
--2 teaspoons ground cloves
--1 teaspoon ground ginger
~ Makes about 4 cups ~
Instructions:
1. Stir all ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Pour into the quart jar (a funnel is useful for this but not absolutely necessary) and cap with a screw top lid, firmly screwed down.
2. Print the Spiced Tea Mix label shown above and cut it out (with fancy edged craft scissors, if you have them). Use a paper punch to put a hole in the top right hand corner.
3. Cut the lace trim to fit around the jar lid, adding an extra inch. Glue lace in place around the rim of the lid, overlapping the extra inch of lace at the back. Alternatively, you could cover the lid with a circle of lace or pretty fabric tied in place with the ribbon.
4. Tie ribbon around the lace on the jar lid, then tie the ribbon around the cinnamon sticks so that they appear at the front of the jar. Thread ribbon through the punched hole on the label and tie in place with a bow.
Allfreecrafts.com also has instructions on how to decorate the jars and a little tag that you can copy to print up and put on your gift.
Linkage: Allfreecrafts.com Spiced Tea Mix
Spicy Raspberry Tea Mix - I picked this one up at 7thspace.com
Ingredients
3/4 cup instant tea, unsweetened
4 (.23 ounce) packets raspberry-flavored unsweetened drink mix
2 tablespoons lemonade drink mix
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
Stir all ingredients in mixing bowl with wire whisk. Transfer mixture to 1-pint wide-mouth jar. If jar is full, gently tap bottom of jar on palm of hand to settle mix. Seal jar.
Decorate jar and attach the following instructions on a gift tag:
Spiced Raspberry Tea
Makes 1 (6 ounce) serving.
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons Spiced Raspberry Tea Mix
6 ounces boiling water
Fresh raspberries (optional)
Fresh orange slice (optional)
Sprig of fresh mint (optional)
Linkage: 7thspace.com Spicy Raspberry Tea Mix
Lastly my top ten sales. There are truly a lot of great deals out right now. With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming, I have kept my eyes open and looking for baking deals. I saw some excellent deals on sugar and baking needs at Fry's. Okay...on with the savings.
Safeway -
All manufacturers coupons are worth a dollar. I don't know how long that will last so take advantage while you can! :)
-- Green asparagus 99 cents a pound
-- Hass avocados 88 cents each
-- Green Giant canned veggies 39 cents
Albertsons -
(10% discount to all military personnel active or retired until 11/17 i.d. required)
-- Honeysuckle white premium turkey Grade A frozen 43 cents a pound
-- USDA Bottom Round Roast $1.88 a pound
-- 93% Lean ground beef $1.67 a pound (5 pounds or more)
-- Chex cereal $1.50 each when you buy 3 (totally ready to make that Chex Mix now!)
Fry's -
(All manufacturers coupons $1.00 and competitor coupons accepted)
-- All natural boneless skinless chicken breasts $1.57 pound
-- Bananas 39 cents a pound
-- Farmer John bacon 2 for $4.o0
Seriously there are a lot more great deals out there so be sure to check them out. And again, don't forget about all those coupons you can download to your loyalty cards with cellfire, P&GeSaver, and Shortcuts.
Have a great day! See ya next week!
1 comment:
I am going to try plastic jungle right now. Thanks for sharing.
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